Benzinga's Top Upgrades with Color for May 7, 2012

Listed below are today's Top Upgrades at Benzinga: ISI Group Upgrades Vertex Pharmaceuticals VRTX to Buy: ISI Group commented, "Some Street observers we've spoken with are bothered by the lack of a sweat chloride response in this trial. We STRONGLY disagree as sweat chloride is just a surrogate marker. CF patients don't care about their sweat. They care about their lungs. The impact on lungs in this trial appears dramatic to us. We would buy the stock on confusion around this point." Global Hunter Securities Upgrades Dresser-Rand Group DRC to Buy: Global Hunter Securities said, "We are upgrading DRC to Buy from Accumulate and raising our price target to $67 (from $62) on the basis of an increasingly vibrant orders forecast related to offshore production installations, shale gas-driven downstream opportunities in North America, early stage environmental solutions and steady year on year growth in Aftermarket bookings. In our view, DRC deserves consideration as a core energy holding across the cycle, particularly considering that the recent supply chain issues appear to be getting resolved expeditiously. Looking for a way to play $100 crude and $2 NAM gas? Look no further." Morgan Stanley Upgrades PepsiCo PEP to Overweight: Morgan Stanley comments, "We view PEP as a win-win situation. Either higher marketing pays off (vs. skeptical MS/market expectations) and the stock outperforms, or continued fundamental struggles may lead to more drastic action, including management/strategic changes, which could unlock shareholder value." Piper Jaffray Upgrades Leap Wireles LEAP to Neutral: Piper Jaffray explained, "We are upgrading Leap to Neutral, as we feel there is limited additional downside with the stock approaching our target. Given the high volume of trading over the last several days, we believe significant sellers have been exiting the stock, and once they are done the stock could stabilize or rally. At current levels, the equity is approaching an optionality value on the spectrum at Leap. We are not, however, more bullish on the long term prospects of the pre-paid business." Oppenheimer Upgrades Newell Rubbermaid NWL to Outperform: Oppenheimer said, "We are upgrading NWL to Outperform from Perform with a $23 DCF-derived target price. Our more constructive view is based on our increased confidence that, through the early progress made on Project Renewal and its new growth game plan, NWL is steadily evolving into a solid multi-year growth story." Morgan Stanley Upgrades Lear Corporation LEA to Overweight: Morgan Stanley comments, "Reports of the death of the seat as a value-added component in the car are exaggerated, in our opinion. The seat is complex, expensive and hard to re-source, which makes it difficult to commoditize. This can preserve margin for seat-makers, despite evolving sourcing patterns and mix trends." Dahlman Rose Upgrades Genesee & Wyoming GWR to Buy: Dahlman Rose writes, "With a number of challenges now in the rear-view mirror, such as the Edith River Bridge outage in Australia, which weighed on 2H11 results, including a $0.05/sh negative impact on EPS in 1Q12, and with the stock giving up much of the gain that followed the company's recent earnings report, we believe this is a good entry point into GWR shares for long-term investors," All of Benzinga' Analyst Ratings news can be viewed here.